Author Archive for: Alex

Cooking and photography are two passions that go so well together!
I cook fresh from scratch pretty much every day. Some dishes look great, some don’t.
Every time a dish belongs in the first category, I quickly set up a flash or two and take a couple of photos.

Vienna’s 4th district Wieden has always been my natural habitat ever since I moved here over two decades ago.
Wieden is located very centrally, bordering the Inner City at Karlsplatz and Technical University.
Most houses here are old, really old but in great shape, usually maintained very well.
We have lots of restaurants with cuisines from all nations, bars of all kinds, flower shops everywhere, art galleries and small stores selling artisan products of all types.
Wieden to me has always been the place to live.

Old houses mean old windows as well so I took my camera and took a few pictures to showcase them here.
Enjoy.

27°C (80F), a bright and sunny day… Of course I left my shades at home while the sun was beautifully reflecting from the white sand, making me kind of snow blind.
Went to Schönbrunn, a really beautiful yet totally touristy place in the western part of town.
I literally heard more Italian and English than German spoken there.

Time to shoot some modern buildings. Seriously.
So my cam and I made the trip to the northernmost part of town – 22nd district – to pay a visit to our Donau City and the Vienna International Center.
Lots going on there – everybody and their granny is building a big business building there these days.

Yay, spring is coming!
It’s here already actually.
Time to pony up, grab the cam and go to both our Stadtpark and the Botanical Garden, lovingly maintained by the University of Vienna.
The Stadtpark is kind of like our Central Park. Maybe not as big *cough* but we have WAY more Strauß statues than the Central Park in NYC.

What does an optimist do on a heavily overcast day with all forecasts using the word “rain”?
He takes his camera, walks to the Arenbergpark in Vienna’s 3rd district and takes a bunch of photos, especially from the local flak towers, remainders of WWII.

What happens to an optimist then?
He gets heavily rained upon, of course.

Another beautiful day equals another day in town with my camera handy.
This time, I spent a few hours in the 2nd district also known as Leopoldstadt.
Leopoldstadt is nicknamed “Matzoh Island” because it was the center of Jewish life in Vienna for a very long time until the Shoah.
It actually still is – unfortunately, the total number of Jews in Vienna has diminished a lot but you can still tell where you are walking through the streets here.
I even caught a shot of two Orthodox Jews on scooters – a great view.
After that walk, I rewarded myself with a glass of Refosk and some nice Prsut (Slovenian prosciutto) at Istranka.

What a gorgeous day!
Got home from work at 8 am, slept till 1, took a long shower to rid myself of office dirt and sweat, grabbed my cam and took a walk.
I made some photos of buildings around the Naschmarkt, the secession building and the aquadrat.

Since the weather was simply gorgeous, I decided to pick up my cam and take a walk through town.
Obviously, I wasn’t alone – everybody and their grannies was strolling around.
We had over 60 F, sun was shining, the sky was blue… And as usual when the sun shows for the first few times in spring, every green space was totally crowded.

My friend Manfred and I took a quick walk around town, armed to the teeth with our cameras when we stumbled into a really amazing demonstration.
A couple of pot smokers made a demonstration pro marijuana legalization.
About 25 protestors were secured by at least 50 officers, the Ring, one of Vienna’s most important roads, was blocked for an hour.
Democracy can’t get any better.